A guest post by James with a rather special perspective that includes his learnings from Ramaswami, last week, and a bit of a controvertial twist...
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I’ve seen a lot of discussion about the “yoga body” lately. There’s been a wide range of reactions to this phrase:
- The yoga body is beautiful and reasons are given why: fit, healthy, glistening, sexy, etc.
- The yoga body “is what it is” – i.e. if you’re not in shape but comfortable with your body and really into yoga then that’s ok also because beauty is in the mind, etc.
Nothing wrong with either of these philosophies but it seems to me from my beginner’s mind and very meager experience that the reality is the yoga body is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever encountered.
(not all specific yoga bodies are disgusting of course)
A) Sweating. The yoga body, particularly in the first stages, (and how long does that last? Years?) why does it sweat? Because the body is being purified. It needs to sweat toxins that have been there for years. So the toxins come out. Maybe this is better than the “non-yoga body” but I’m not comparing the two. In the non-yoga body the toxins are hidden. In the yoga body, those toxins are out full force. And the sweat is everywhere. The sweat comes out of your eyeballs. It drips all over your mat. All of those glistening yoga bodies around you are disgustingly sweating out of places that have never in 20-40 years sweated before. By definition, because that’s what yoga is doing.
B) The air. The average person takes a breath every 2 seconds or so. The yoga body gets into these contorted positions and breathes deeply and holds the position while breathing deeply. So what happens? Just like in sweat, “stale air” (as one yoga practitioner referred to it) starts coming to the surface and you start exhaling it. Again, I get it. You’re purifying your body. But during the 28 years you’re doing it its pretty disgusting to breathe up all that stale air.
C) Vomiting. When I first met Claudia she told me about her teacher training in Thailand. One of the things she mentioned was how they would drink warm salty water in the morning until they threw it up. Part of their morning cleansing. I’m a believer. I would like to do this myself. All I’m saying is: vomiting is disgusting. To me personally. I love the idea of purification and eventually hope I get there. But the process seems repulsive.
D) Enemas. It’s not just vomiting. I have vague memories (note to self: bring up with therapist) of being held down as a constipated three year old while screaming and being forcibly applied an enema by my parents. My sister told me it was horrible to watch. Why was she watching?
But now I hear it’s also part of the yoga purification process. So the yoga body is sticking stuff up themselves all the time. For me, I have feelings of disgust around this. But ok. Again, nothing wrong with it. But sticking something up your ass is often disgusting.
E) Neti-pot. Perhaps the least invasive of these techiques but the yoga body sticks a pot of warm water again up your nose while you tilt your head and you pour until the water comes out the other nostril, draining all the snot out of your nose and whatever else has been up there for decades. But this is not just once. The yoga body is doing all of these things. Every day. Forever. Throw in the things that come across your tongue scraper and you’ve got a whole heap of disgusting. Nice.
And finally, philosophy. Is yoga really about exercise or looking good? Claudia and I just got back from Ramaswami’s 20 hour course on the yoga sutras. Much of it was above my head. I’m no expert.
But on day one he describes the roots of “yoga” (in terms of the yoga sutras where Ashtanga, Iyengar, Power Yoga, etc are all descended from) as not “union” (as in Bhakti Yoga) but “separation” of mind from pure consciousness. And later he relates this to the niyama for “Cleanliness” in that you realize how repulsive the body is through the act of cleansing it. In other words, the feelings of repulsion you learn towards your body during the process of yoga (and everything underneath that massive umbrella) help you separate your mind from it. Which in turn helps your mind separate from pure consciousness.
So, I’m just a beginner. I know nothing. But I’m curious what other people think of this.
See Also:
The Only Yogic Power We Should Seek
7 Surprising Things I Learned From Ramaswami's 20-Hour Yoga Sutra Course
See Also:
The Only Yogic Power We Should Seek
7 Surprising Things I Learned From Ramaswami's 20-Hour Yoga Sutra Course
Hi J!
ReplyDeleteWell I was disgusted with my body when - during my particularly bad bout of the typical digestive tract duress last visit - I poo-d on myself while vomiting into the toilet. There was no one to see it, but I was nonetheless humiliated.
Ok, I have a story. One time I was visiting an investor (i.e. someone who i was saying, "please give me millions of your money to invest") and while there they served dinner. I got food poisoning almost immediately from their food.
ReplyDeleteThe entire night (my bathroom in their house shared a wall with their bed) i was doing the same thing you were doing VERY VERY loudly. Oh, and I think I was crying also.
The next day the guy said to me, "we heard you and I felt so bad I wanted to come in there and hold your hand."
NO, PLEASE GOD. Even thinking about it reminds me how happy I am he DID NOT DO THAT.
He did invest the money with me though.
James, have you read through Krishnamacharya's yoga makaranda, some delightful kriya's in there, gonna love the squatting in the river one.
ReplyDeleteI remember the first few months, possibly a year, sweating buckets and the sweat really stinking, then it stopped suddenly, still sweat loads during practice but no smell (unless I had garlic or onions the night before, perhaps that's why we're not supposed to eat them). Really brought me around to the detox aspect, don't know how it it works, convinced it's connected to the ujaii breath, sorry, breathing with sound somehow.
Remember Ramaswami saying how amazing those old yogi's were, dealing with every aspect of the body, the blood, muscle and sinew through asana, internal organs through pranayama and some of those tight binds where your heel, for example, is jammed into your guts, or kidney's or whatever. Getting right into the internal organs, digestive tract through the cleansing kriyas. Even the eyeballs with the staring at a candle kriya. And then of course the senses, through pratyahara and finally the head itself, stilling the constant noise. Hang on the yamas and niyamas are all about spring cleaning too no.
Not squeemish them yogi's and pretty damned thorough.
Nice ink Claudia, who knew.
ReplyDelete@Grimmly, thanks. I guess I have all of those to look forward to as well. I guess thats what it takes to live 100 years old.
ReplyDeleteSeems like those with yoga bodies have - well - yoga bodies. You know. Like the "gazel-like" runners who have runner's bodies. Not everyone has a runner's body. I know someone that has stout legs and a too-long torso that just doesn't allow efficient running movement. Those will yoga bodies can work up to a back bend. Most of us - not so much. I like the pose where you lay flat on your back and breath deeply while watching TV.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, that is funny anonymous, i also like that pose only yoga has somehow managed to eradicate tv from my life, I now only watch shows that i download in Hulu... (Family Man, Office, 30 Rock) yeah, pretty lethargic of me, what can I say, yogi but human as charged! :-)
ReplyDeleteGrimmly that is NOT me, just to be clear... I mean because of your "nice ink" comment, ha ha ha
ReplyDeleteGosh - so many things to comment on it's hard to know what to pick!! Starting from the end (and probably the most important!) - I don't see a conflict between 'union' and 'separation of mind from pure consciousness'. I always thought 'union' meant union of my individual drop of spirit/pure consciousness/whatever you call it, with the infinite ocean of spirit/pure consciousness/whatever. The attempt at separating finite mind from infinite consciousness (which in fact by definition could never be connected anyway) seems like an obvious part of that path.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for vomiting and enemas - well, that's not any part of my yoga practice, and I have no intention of making it that. I can see a place for neti pots - when I have sinus problems or similar, but that's all.
I don't have one of those thin lithe young yoga bodies, and never will have! Just not built that way. But that doesn't stop me practicing yoga regularly and loving the practice ... :) (I have to stop!!)
Susiegb, I hear you, the topic does invite conversation... I agree that the practices have a place, whenever there is a need, like sinus problems or when working at deep pranayamas to open both nostrils, or when constipated, they are not for everyone and not for all the time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your view on union/separation too, nice to read from you!
Not sure about this...there are things about my body that I would sometimes rather not have (long legs for one thing, which make most poses harder), but regarding the body as something disgusting that needs cleansing has always struck me as a potentially unhealthy attitude.
ReplyDeleteSweating - I know that yoga regards this as a 'detoxifying' thing, but there's not a lot of science in this. Why do we sweat? To cool ourselves down, end of (not to remove toxins from the body - that's done elsewhere, like in the kidneys, sorry to disappoint you) - ashtanga makes you hot like all exercise, and even holding a pose requires muscular activity that generates heat. Why does sweat smell? Stuff we've eaten, and bacteria on our skin. Why do men sweat more than women? 'Cause they do - it's a biological fact, and it makes men more efficient at exercise (as they cool more quickly) albeit that they look less cool, and smell more. Why do we sweat less with more practice? 'Cause we get more efficient at doing the movements - expending less energy and therefore generating less heat (we also tend to weigh less after a year of ashtanga, which makes it easier too). Sorry to come over all 'rationalist'.
Onions and garlic - brahmins don't eat them, but then their food is tasteless. The reason they don't eat them is not because they're bad for you, but because not eating them is part of the same 'purity' logic that underpins the caste system in the first place. There are some good things about Hinduism, don't get me wrong, but the purity schtick isn't one of them - take it to its logical extreme and menstruating women would be excluded from the shala (as they are from the house in traditional Hindu families). Think on that. (BTW, science says categorically that garlic is good for you.)
All the other stuff - deliberate vomiting, enemas, etc, to 'detox'. Based apparently on the idea that undigested food sticks in your stomach or colon. If that were true, then you would be dead unless you had an operation quickly. Sorry for the negativity, but the people who cooked up kriyas way back when knew nothing about the way the internal organs work - absolutely nothing. The modern day 'detox' industry is a scam. Your gut is a wonderful ecosystem - all you need to do to keep it that way is eat sensibly, and shit regularly (to put it crudely).
To separate the mind from the body - now this I can buy (without needing the rejection of the 'disgusting' body part). I won't claim to be a brilliant meditator, but I have on occasion achieved something like the feeling of being outside my body, however transient. And it feels nice. I don't actually believe in the dualism of body and soul (atma) though, and don't think you need to in order to get a lot out of yoga.
Gosh.. I perspire all the time here in the crazy heat. Maybe I'm weird, but I do like how I perspire during Ashtanga. It reminds me that my body is working and that everything is working according to plan.
ReplyDeleteAnd I definitely love the after glow after perspiring buckets after practice. When I do meet my friends after a nice sweaty practice, I'm usually bare faced and they usually exclaim I look so rosy!
So, yeah I do love what yoga is doing to me. The sweating part at least :)
Hi Anonymous, thanks for that perspective, quite different... enjoyed reading
ReplyDeleteYogicory I also like to sweat, just dont like the first moment, but then I am alright... and that is a good reminder...
Anon again.
ReplyDeleteYou're quite welcome - apologies if it seemed harsh, just re-read. Just that claims about 'detox' wind me up, because they are usually rubbish.
I agree that the practice makes you feel good (as per yoginicory) but that is not, in my view, because you've detoxed through sweating (and this claim, as per the tradition and the texts, has no basis in empirical reality, which matters to me). Exercise releases chemicals that make you feel good, and exercise combined with deep breathing (i.e. yoga) has additional beneficial effects.
Anon, not at all, you have a very specific view, no need to apologize. I can imagine there is a whole industry taking advantage of the detox thing, which, well, God bless them, they also need to eat and send their kids to school, but it could be rubish, like with everything, there are people who do it honestly and people who do not..
ReplyDeleteI understand your need for empirical reality. I am of a different view because I have seen my body become "cleaner" shall I say, not just in all cycles but also mentally through the practice, but that is just my case and could be those "additional beneficial effects" you mention.
I know I'm late to the party on this subject - but I just would like to add a short comment please.
ReplyDeleteI very much appreciate anon's definition of sweat. I wholeheartedly agree and am suprised how often the yoga community believes they are sweating 'toxin's' out of their system. Suprised, because generally yogi's seem to educate themselves so much on body mechanics, yet know very little of the difference between sweat glands and the function of one's kidney.
So, thanks anon for stating the facts.
Liz
btw - I tried multiple times to publish my comment via my google account, but it doesn't allow me to do so. Not sure if I'm doing something incorrectly...
Liz, thanks for the comment sorry you were having trouble with the posting!
ReplyDelete